Before there was Al Gore, there was George Mitchell. Politicians have been casting themselves as environmental crusaders, saving the planet, for two decades.

George J. Mitchell spent 15 years in the US Senate, between 1980 and 1995. In 1991 his book, World on Fire: Saving an Endangered Earth, appeared.

So what were politicians saying about the environment 21 years ago? Pretty much the same things they say today. The planet was “under siege.” An environmental “Holocaust” was underway.

Acid rain, ozone layer damage, rainforest depletion, and global warming were the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (I kid you not) that were “killing our water, our air, our plants, our animals” and were on course to smite us, too.

Here’s a quote from pages 20-21 of the hardcover edition:

Planet Earth is sending out distress signals. They carry ominous messages. They tell us that the world is about to grow…

The head of research at a prominent UK climate facility believes that those of us who use refrigerators and drive cars will need to be coerced into altering our lifestyles.

All the mixed messaging out there regarding global warming sure is confusing. We’re frequently told that there are “simple, low-cost solution[s]” and “easy ways” to curtail our energy consumption. The implication is that anyone who won’t go to such trivial effort to save the planet must be both irrational and irretrievably selfish.

But don’t be fooled. The UK ‘s Guardian newspaper is currently highlighting the views of prominent climate activists. These paint a starkly different picture of the kind of sacrifices we’re all expected to make – and provide a glimpse of the future these activists have in store for us. It’s a future few of us would consider tolerable.

Kevin Anderson (whom I’ve previously described as…

By Viv Forbes

A scheming cabal of green bureaucrats, academics and corporate speculators is trying to scare us into a mess of energy taxes, subsidies and rationing in order to combat what they call “catastrophic man-made global warming”.

Climate alarmists speculate that if the level of harmless carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is doubled (which may or may not happen in a century or so), world temperature may be one or two degrees warmer than it would have otherwise been.

One of the things we have heard from a number of communities is that landowners who signed options and then those options turned into leases for industrial-scale wind turbines, is that they wish they had learned more about the whole issue before they signed.

A lawyer told our community group, If landowners had had a lawyer read over some of those contracts, the advice would have been NOT to sign.

The reasons are several: you virtually give away all rights to your own land for 20 years and at the end of that time there is a first right of refusal. In the United States for example, the leases are written in such a way that they are really 60-year leases, not 20.

But what happens quickly is the community reaction when a landowner decides to put money first and sign on the dotted line. Neighbours of the leased property…

From the producer:

I wanted to reach out and inform you that the film was recently completed and virtually launched on our website, August 24th, 2012.

Every Global Warming prediction, has proven to be science fiction. Uncover the truth as we expose the shepherds of Climate Change in this new controversial
documentary. Introducing first time filmmakers Pete Garcia II (director), Jesse Jones (writer), Deyvis Martinez (dp), Will Rich (sound) in their debut feature length
film. Independently funded, this indie documentary in not associated with any corporate sponsorship or funding whatsoever. No hidden agendas, just the COLD
truth. Support our grassroots campaign through word of mouth.Help spread the word!

Gilead = 9 turbines.  Wpd = 29 turbines.  Can it get any worse for South County?  Yes it can.

There are persistent rumours that wpd Canada (“wpd”) is preparing to a second, larger wind project for South County, even as it gets ready to submit its REA application for the 29-turbine project.

When the original White Pines project was announced back in 2008, it was to include 75 turbines.  This project was subsequently split into two phases of 30+ and 40+ turbines, respectively.

In 2010, wpd was awarded a power supply contract for 30 turbines (later reconfigured to 29).  Many people assumed that wpd had decided to proceed with Phase 1 only.

We believe that wpd has decided to proceed with Phase 2 —  an additional 40+ turbines – and has, or is close to having, sufficient options of land to support this number.

Phase 2 could be infill within…

Well .. maybe not an expert.  But you’ll get a good snapshot of most of the  issues relating to wind turbines and the Green Energy Act by watching the following 8-minute video, produced by the London and St. Thomas Alliance of Realtors (LSTAR).

Industrial wind turbines and their effect on our quality of life

Industrial wind turbines are springing up all over Ontario and people living close to them are concerned about what impact they might have, both on their personal wellbeing and on the value and enjoyment of their property. So are Ontario’s REALTORS®. Listen to LSTAR’s President-Elect, Doug Pedlar, as he presents the case for a moratorium on wind turbines until all the facts are in.

Here’s the video: http://tinyurl.com/cxd64dy .

Note: The only issue not referenced in the video is the negative impact on the local economy — tourism, new construction / renovations and new business startups  — due to industrialization from large-scale uncontrolled wind energy development.

Please…

We just visited Prowind’s website for an update—there is none, there never is–and were delighted to see the little sidebar of facts about wind power is still there. Cute little factoids pop up like, Wind power development  increases by 30% every two years.

Here are some facts of our own.

Wind power generation efficiency declines by 2 percent a year; by the end of the 20-year contract, the turbines are producing next to nothing, unless they have undergone expensive replacement of the nacelle and the blades.

Wind power efficiency is about 24 percent; solar is about 13, and nuclear is about 80 percent for 40 years. However, wind power developers typically peg the efficiency rate much higher. Algonquin Power, for example, claims an efficiency rate of 37 percent for some of its projects, and depicts a straight line rate of efficiency throughout the 20-years of its contract for government/taxpayer subsidies…